To create a list of posts use the following code.  However this will not work in the header.php

 <ul>
 <?php
 global $post;
 $myposts = get_posts('numberposts=5&offset=1&category=1');
 foreach($myposts as $post) :
   setup_postdata($post);
 ?>
    <li><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></li>
 <?php endforeach; ?>
 </ul>